Advice on existing contract / upgrade please

Del_Astra

Hi all, first off apologise for the long winded post, bear with it I shall explain all.

Trying to assist an existing Orange customer with getting a better contract. They currently use a Nokia 6300i and have done so for 4 or 5 years (so well out of minimum term). They are currently unable to login to Orange account, and I am insisting they speak to Orange to get in so we can look at actual usage via billmonitor. They don't like speaking to Orange but they have to do it to progress so I shall endure the pain and get them to do this, can't believe it will be to hard to get a password changed.

They tell me they currently pay £30 a month for 600mins, free landline calls and 500 texts. No data and they are not interested in this and are put off by new contracts as they all include data. I've explained this is expensive, but they like the free calls to landlines as this is important and they won't get this going forward (although I'm not sure on this point, the whole free calsl to landlines is something I am unsure about). First question is regarding free calls to landlines, is this something that was offered in the past? I suspect it might be the friends and family numbers as they've been with Orange over 10 years and I suspect they added the landline numbers to this at some stage, thoughts please?

I beleive the best way forward is to use bill monitor to find out what they are averaging and take it from there. I have pointed out a sim only orange deal at £15.50 which is panther, 600 mins, unlimited text and 500mb, they are put off by the 500mb as they won't use this and feel they shouldn't be paying for it. Although this is roughly 50% cheaper than current deal. Also I know virgin and Three do cheaper sim only deals, virgin give you 1200mins, unlimited text and 1GB for £12 a month.

I can see the data being a sticking point, is it possible to get a deal that only includes calls and text? no picture message or anything like that. Is it worth requesting PAC and seeing what Orange offer? Will they get offered anything decent considering they've paid over the odds for about 4 years! although they haven't gone outwith plan.

Is there any chance Orange will speak to me, as opposed to the bill payer? - I know this is probably a non starter. They say they are happy with Orange, which I fail to understand if they won't speak to them. I am banging my head off the wall a bit trying to understand their logic.

I think once we get a chance to look at actual usage via bill monitor things will be much clearer. Thanks for reading, you done well to get this far.

Herongull

Unless your friend can arrange with Orange for you to speak on her behalf, there is no point in you trying to speak to them.

Why doesn't your friend want to port out to Virgin and save £18 per month even though it includes data? She is paying an awful lot to Orange for the privilege of not having data.:eek:

Does she think she makes lots of phone calls? It would be difficult for anyone to exceed 1,200 minutes of calls per month unless they never get off the phone, so she would be "safe" with Virgin. But rather than worrying about wasting a data allowace, what about the risk that she might actually be using only 200 calls per month and all the "excess" call allowance is being wasted?

She could consider getting a PAYG sim. For example Ovivo gives you 100 minutes, 100 texts and 300mb data free each month, but you can buy additional bundles of minutes and texts if this isn't enough. After one month on a PAYG sim she could find out how much she normally uses and then make a more informed decision on the best mobile company for her and then port out if necessary.

grumbler

Del_Astra wrote: »

...
Is there any chance Orange will speak to me, as opposed to the bill payer?

They will if your friend calls first and adds your name to the account (with some password).

- I know this is probably a non starter. They say they are happy with Orange, which I fail to understand if they won't speak to them. I am banging my head off the wall a bit trying to understand their logic.

If I were you I wouldn't bother. If they are happy to waste money, let it be. Some people are far too stubborn to wast our lives on trying to change their minds.

BTW, Virgin do unlimited landline calls + 120 mobile minutes just for topping up £10: http://www.virginmobile.com/vm/paygSimCardOnly.do .
And £10 remains untouched to be used for PAYG.

Del_Astra

Many thanks for the replys, very useful to know I can get added to the account and the Virgin landlines one as that seems to be important to her.

I did check the Ovivo site after posting and noticed for a tenner you get 400 additional mins, which might be suitable, although she insisted she used 600mins, how she knows I have no idea and I seriously doubt she does.

I shall get her to call Orange tonight, and add me to account and reset her password for her online account it will all become clearer then I suspect.

grumbler

Del_Astra wrote: »

... and reset her password for her online account ...

Can you not do it online?

Del_Astra

grumbler wrote: »

Can you not do it online?

This is offered, however when you try, you get a "we are currently working on our site.... blah blah blah, so some services might not be available please try again later".